He didn’t hold back
José Mourinho’s treatment of young players is a topic of much debate. The stagnation of players like Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial and to a lesser extent Marcus Rashford has come under a lot of criticism, both from fans and pundits.
Rewind to May 4th, when Manchester United suffered a 1-0 away defeat to Brighton, who secured their survival in the top flight with the win, and you’ll see exactly why Mourinho’s man management has come under scrutiny.
Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sánchez were rested for that game, both recovering from knocks, and in their place were Rashford and Martial. Speaking after the game, Mourinho’s comments could be inferred as throwing the pair under the bus.
“For many months you are always asking me why this player doesn’t play, why that player doesn’t play, why this player is on the bench, why always Lukaku? Now you know why”, Mourinho said in his post-match interview.
It didn’t go down well. There was a general consensus that such criticism was extremely harsh of two young players who have been pushed out the team by big money signings despite playing well when given the chance.
Jermain Jenas was particularly enraged by the comments, and didn’t hold back when addressing the issue on BBC 5 Live:
“I found what Mourinho did after that Brighton game, I thought it was disgusting. I really did,” the former Spurs midfielder said. “I think when you’re managing a young player like Marcus Rashford as well.
“The thing I really didn’t like about it is for him to come out and speak as publicly as he did at that time. What was he saying? It was ‘People are asking about [Romelu] Lukaku, why Lukaku? Well now you know’
“That was a direct shot at Rashford. It was almost like he enjoyed the failure of Rashford. It gave him the opportunity to go ‘Well you lot shut up now. I’m right and you’re wrong.’ And that is not a point that you should be using on a young player.”
